Posts by mindmelda

30

"We are not hear to change your religion"....why do Witnesses lie?

by Witness 007 in

the truth = yes we are!!

ive said this in the past but really why am i at the door...not to sell vaccum cleaners!

we dont "force" people to change religions.....we just force them to stay in with disfellowshiping......."we don't hate gays".......we are just waiting for them to be burnt to death at armagedon..

mindmelda

I never had one productive Bible study in 33 years of professing to be a Witness.

I was a good publisher but we lived for most of that time in a heavily LDS area that offers their people such an extensive social support system, not any of them wanted to jump ship for the Witnesses. You could get them to study for a short time, then they'd politely tell you no thanks.

One family finally became rather inactive JWs there, but they had been Catholics. And, a JW woman married a Mormon and joined the LDS church, so I guess it was Mormons-1, JW-0 for that area. LOL

17

Survey: Jehovah's Witnesses pray the most nationally

by Gayle in

mindmelda

I want to respond to the comments above about "praying that millions will die" and the rest of it.

I do understand that Witnesses sincerely believe that the evangelizing work they do is life saving and it's difficult. I did it and encountered abuse for it myself, of couse. I also encountered abuse selling Avon door to door too...there are people who just do not like their privacy or property invaded for any reason.

But, speaking about religion makes many uncomfortable and they do not share the Witness mindset about how valuable evangelizing is. They do not want to discuss either their beliefs or Witness beliefs. That is their choice. You certainly cannot expect non-believers to have the same attitude about people coming to their door to evangelize that you do as a Witness!

But, there is no getting around these facts:

When you pray for God's Kingdom to come, you are praying for the following events to happen, according to what Witnesses believe:

1. You're praying for Armageddon to destroy the ungodly, which is everyone who does not accept the WTS teachings and adhere to them as the WTS and the GB is the only avenue through to worship God correctly, to give people the truth that they need to live forever.

It was explained to me that if Jehovah did not destroy the wicked in heaven and on earth, paradise would be impossible as wicked humans and the demons would soon corrupt the new world as they have this one we live in now. So, even those who make it into the new world and for some reason do not want to live according to what is godly will be executed too. The WTS expects to be the basis of the new worlds theocratic government, so the way they live and teach now is pretty much what they expect the new world to be like in many ways, I'm sure.

2. The vast majority of humankind, now and in recent past (since the WTS began to do their evangelizing work) have not either been Jehovah's Witnesses, heard of Jehovah's Witnesses, and have not responded favorably to what the WTS teaches as the truth about God from his Word. The number of Witnesses, if you count only those who are active evangelizers, as the WTS does, is only about 7 million people more or less, I believe.

3. So, indeed, when you put those thoughts together, the wish for God's New Order seems to be "praying for the destruction of billions of human beings" when Armageddon comes, because there are billions alive now that are not Witnesses and probably will not ever be. This is eternal destruction, God's judgment from which there is no exception, simply because of the time period these people were born in.

Those who have already died have paid the price of sin, death,they will only be judged according to the deeds they perform after their resurrection, regardless of what good or evil they did while alive. This is all in accord with WTS teachings, how they interpret the scriptures, no?

Those who are living now are no doubt one of the most unfortunate group of humans to ever walk the face of the earth if just by the timing of their births they happen to be alive when Armageddon comes and like most humans alive today, do not accept the WTS message of salvation.

40

I just want this to stop!

by mrsjones5 in

as some of you know my husband became ill and we lost our house in indiana.

my parents offered to help and although i really didn't want to do it knowing that my parents have limited resources i really didn't have a choice.

i also wanted to come back to a place that was familiar and where most of my family and friends are.

mindmelda

I really sympathise. We lost our house in January of this year to foreclosure, we'd only lived in it 9 months when our small business went under, we were self employed contractors for 15 years in the same area and actually doing well until the housing crunch hit our area.

We had to move to another state for work and it's been rough, my troubles aren't anything compared to this. I only have to deal with my largely inactive JW parents by phone!

It was tougher when we lived near them, too, but only my mother was a critical busybody. But, no one has the right to just intrude into your home. The landlord should know that your privacy is being violated like this. You're doing nothing wrong, but of course, if you're not living just the way some think you should be, they will feel they're "helping' by doing this. Nothing could be less true. What shocking behavior!

30

"We are not hear to change your religion"....why do Witnesses lie?

by Witness 007 in

the truth = yes we are!!

ive said this in the past but really why am i at the door...not to sell vaccum cleaners!

we dont "force" people to change religions.....we just force them to stay in with disfellowshiping......."we don't hate gays".......we are just waiting for them to be burnt to death at armagedon..

mindmelda

I can't believe I used to tell people that. What else were you there for?

But, the contradiction is it's harder to get into the JWs than a private club, at least now. Back in the day, anyone who asked and who was studying a while would get dunked, but now you have to go through the elder inquisition and already be living the Witness regimen a while to get baptized.

I guess they discovered that too many people were dunking and running, they lost a lot of these quickie conversions, or so it seems to me.

9

Growing up J.W. A review of "I'm Perfect, You're Doomed"

by betterdaze in

jw
friends

growing up j.w.a new book about being raised among jehovahs witnesses sends these sn&r writers down memory lane.

by jenn kistler and kel munger .

jenn kistler and kel munger bicker over which book for jehovahs witnesses children is scarier.

mindmelda

I relate to all of that, especially getting baptized because otherwise you're not a "grown up" and can't hang with the elite.

I got baptized at 16, just turned, as a matter of a fact, for those very reasons. I hadn't a CLUE what I was getting into, not really, as I'd never experienced much else.

59

Elimination of Jesus from Song Book?

by twinkletoes in

ive recently been looking at a non-jw tract this was an interesting paragraph.

watchtower 1st 1954 page 31. there we read "jehovahs witnesses are proud of the fact that they have eliminated from their song books, songs praising jesus (revelation, its grand climax at hand, page 36)".

i was in the org.

mindmelda

Mindmelda, what happened to that brother over time? Did he get kicked out?

No I think he's still hanging in there, but he's quite elderly and in poor health.

That being said, I really do think there are some sincere JWs who still read the Bible for themselves, as it used to be more encouraged and who don't let much get to them. I notice that they tend to clash with elders somewhat, like this brother did. He openly challenged some of the things that went on until they asked him to step down as an elder.

I was associated for years with two or three congregations that were highly dsyfunctional. I don't know if they all are, or most, but all the ones I was associated with over the years had constant power struggles among the elders going on all the time. And among the sisters, too, in other ways. Very bitchy behavior at times was really common, with the pioneer sisters in particular. They acted the way people typically act when they feel privileged.

I don't judge people for what religion they're in anymore, I don't judge them at all, I hope. But, I do think some Witnesses manage to have some sort of genuine faith in God in spite of how discouraging the WTS about individual faith and robotic dependence on the GB's every thought. Lots of those end up getting out of it eventually, or feel perpetually criticized, though, if they don't.

66

"Nope, we're not a brain-washed." Check these faces (and necks) out!!

by passwordprotected in

those dudes have incredibly long necks.

but we won't hold that against them.. .

what exactly is the little dude getting out of the meeting.. i mean, srsssly.

mindmelda

My non-Witness friends and family constantly tell me how creepy they find the WTS photos and art. It's the Stepford Wives/Witnesses!

I call the WTS art style "Children of the Cornball". It's sooo corny. Like they were frozen in a 19540s VD or "loose lips sink ships" film. Oh, wait, those were propaganda too!

42

Homeless Shelters Are Now Charging Rent!

by sammielee24 in

jw
friends

good idea you think?.

i found a statement that is so very relevant at this time what with all the bailouts and greed we've seen and still see.

'the rich are too big to fail and the poor are to small to save'.

mindmelda

I'd love to use that quote on my blog. I agree, until the gov't realizes that the new found poverty of millions is one of it's biggest social problems, and is likely to get even worse, then this "recession" will not have even begun to be addressed.

It's interesting that it's following almost exactly the same pattern as the Great Depression of the 30s in many ways, and yet people still won't use the "D" word.

As far as making many more poor, it's very similar in effect, regardless of what you call it.

17

Survey: Jehovah's Witnesses pray the most nationally

by Gayle in

mindmelda

I used to spend hours praying, then I de-programmed and spent a whole year not praying, and now I pray once in a while and not usually out of fear, anxiety or desperation. I try to make anything I do spiritually be out of joy.

I lived in a constant state of anxiety about Gods approval for SO LONG, sure I never had it. But, now I'm sort of between a few different thoughts on the matter.

I figure if there is a God, he's nothing like the scary WTS version or we'd have all been extincted long ago. Their God is awfully fun of mass slaughter of all sorts of people he gets angry with, and he's looking for any excuse or deviation to wipe out 90% of the human race at any given time. And you're supposed to sleep peacefully every night with this in your head? I have to say, since I quit believing the scary JW mindf**k, I rarely have anxiety attacks anymore.

Anxiety attacks are sometimes about your body trying to keep you safe from danger, perceived or not, you know? I should have listened to that smart self preserving part of my brain a lot sooner!

Or I figure that maybe God is like my very open minded atheist friend says: "If there is a God, and I doubt there is in the anthropomorphic sense found in most religions, I don't think he hates. I prefer the Kabbalist view, that God is in each one of us and that each one of us is used as an extension of God to learn about the universe, we are all God and God is all of us."

Or that if you do believe in the Biblical God, that he'd better be the one that saves you through faith even if you are a sinner, because we all definitely qualify as that, and it's OKAY if you're a sinner. What else can you be?

But, I have to laugh at how ingrained this is...I sometimes find myself "talking" to Jehovah at times, especially when I'm upset, and then I realize my concept of God is not at all like what JWs believe, so why am I wasting my time invoking "their" god?The programming is that hard to shake after years and years away from it.

Although, true, they do not have any patent on the name Jehovah, although if they could, they would and everyone else would have to pay them a dollar to use it. LOL

59

Elimination of Jesus from Song Book?

by twinkletoes in

ive recently been looking at a non-jw tract this was an interesting paragraph.

watchtower 1st 1954 page 31. there we read "jehovahs witnesses are proud of the fact that they have eliminated from their song books, songs praising jesus (revelation, its grand climax at hand, page 36)".

i was in the org.

mindmelda

I think they're so scared silly of the Trinity that they try not to think of Jesus too much except at the Memorial,which suddenly becomes all about him.

I remember an older brother who professed to be of the annointed always talked more about Jesus being his savior and lord, and it made some of the elders uncomfortable!

He always spoke of Christ as "My Lord" and I'd see the elders sort of squirm at that. No doubt because of the gradual diminishing of Jesus in importance in Witness dogma.